In this column, the author relates her experience as a teacher in a K-12 school in Point Hope, Alaska, where most of the students spoke "village English," a form of nonstandard English mixed with the village's native language of Inupiaq. She relates how the students' reading test scores, which had been below the 25th percentile, were increased by instruction which included a combination of guided reading, shared reading, vocabulary development, explicit phonics, literacy groups, flexible grouping, team teaching, and parent involvement. The focus then turned to improving writing scores. Using daily writing exercises, along with having the students evaluate others' writing, resulted in significant improvement by year-end. (Contains 1 figure.)